The west wind blew hard, and Chengshan Port was busy. 3,250 coast guards lined up to board the ship. The civilians used simple lifting equipment to deliver the last batch of supplies to the ship.
The main supplies were loaded onto the ship yesterday, but if we replenish them one day later, the fresh vegetables, fruits and meat can last one more day at sea, right?
Jin Ke, who was in charge of the garrison, and Zhu Jue, who was going back to Xingang, escorted Gongzi, Wang Rulong and others to board the huge ship 101. For a large ship of more than 1,000 tons, it was no longer possible to get on and off using planks, and a special wooden gangway had to be set up.
But in this way, Mr. Zhao finally didn't have to worry about falling off the deck into the water. He walked on the wooden gangway and was in the mood to turn around and wave to the two people. He felt as if he was on the "Navy One".
After watching the young master board the ship, Jin Ke hurried back. He was with 750 marine police officers staying at the base, and the task was also very heavy. They had to be on guard, supervise, and prepare for the next batch of supplies. There was no time to waste.
~~
In this punitive operation against Japan, the Tamra Garrison was mobilized in full force. In addition to the ten thousand hu Wuwei ships and twenty thousand hu Dafu ships, there were also ten medium-sized Wuwei ships, fifteen speed ships, and five supply ships, a total of fifty-one large and small ships.
With so many ships, it is very troublesome just to leave the port. If it had not been rehearsed in advance, they might have collided when leaving the port.
According to the routine of the exercise, ten medium-sized Wuwei ships will sail out of the port first and set up guards outside the port to protect large ships that are slow to move in the near sea from leaving the port.
The Yixue, where Chu Liuxiang was, was the command ship of the small ship squadron, so it had to be the first to leave the port... In the classification of ships in the garrison area, the Qianliu Dafu ship was defined as a medium-sized ship. The medium-sized Wuwei ship fell into the category of small ships, and those smaller than it were not even ships, but boats.
Time was running out, so as soon as he got on board he immediately asked the artillery crew members to put down their backpacks and change into their training uniforms.
The police officers took off their helmets and police robes, revealing their blue and white striped cotton sailor shirts. Then they sat on the stools, took off their expensive black leather combat boots, untied their leather belts, and took off their straight dark blue Songjiang cloth trousers and threw them on their slings.
Then they changed into dark blue linen trousers and long-sleeved shorts, and put on black cloth boots. Their majestic and capable temperament disappeared immediately, and it seems that the saying "clothes make the man, and the saddle makes the horse" is absolutely true.
Chu Liuxiang and others changed into their training uniforms, took down the rattan helmets from the wall, put them on their heads, rushed out of the cabin, untied the gun covers, loaded the shells, and were ready to fire at suspicious targets at any time!
The reserve police officers in the gun crew quickly carefully collected the police uniforms and belts of their predecessors and hung them one by one in the wardrobe fixed to the bulkhead. They were supposed to oil their boots, but they had no time as the ship had just started, so they could only put them neatly at the bottom of the cabinet and rest at night.
~~
The wind is blowing from the west today, which is just right for large ships to leave the port.
A little over an hour later, all the ships in the fleet left their posts, re-formed in a V-shaped formation on the south side of Niu Island, and sailed eastward with full sails.
This was a voyage without much worry, because the ocean currents would carry them directly to Kitakyushu. The entire journey was less than 500 miles, and with favorable winds, they would reach Hirado Domain in two days.
Seeing that the crew had finished operating the ship and started to clean the deck and maintain the artillery, Zhao Hao finally couldn't help but inspect the Wanhu Wuwei ship that served as the flagship.
Wang Rulong quickly called the captain, Haierge, to the poop to accompany the young master on the tour. First, Haierge knew the situation of the ship best, and second, if there was any mistake, he could be blamed. Smart!
"Your name is Brother Haier?" Zhao Hao stood on the top deck and smiled at the captain who came running up, "Your hair isn't yellow, is it?"
"Yes!" Haierge answered first, stepping on his heels, and then was stunned. "Huh?"
Obviously, he didn't understand what Mr. Zhao was saying.
"Who gave you this name?" Young Master Zhao asked in a different way with a smile.
"It's the captain. He loves to give people names." Brother Haier glanced at Wang Rulong and said, "My original name was Haigouer and my brother's name was Haidaner. The captain thought they sounded too ugly, so he changed them to Erge and Erdi."
"Why, are you dissatisfied?" Wang Rulong glared at him as if warning, "Er is you, yours, Er Ge is 'your elder brother', and Er Di is 'your younger brother'. You are both wise and knowledgeable. You can't get such good results even if you pay a teacher!"
"Satisfied, satisfied." Brother Haier quickly apologized with a smile. How dare he offend his immediate superior?
"Hahaha, Captain Wang is really an expert at naming." Zhao Hao laughed and pointed at Wang Rulong. As he followed Brother Haier down the stern, he asked, "Do you have the parameters for this ship?"
"It has been measured." Haierge hurriedly listed the details in scientific units: "101 has three floors on the poop, four floors below the deck, the hull is 47.71 meters long, 10.26 meters wide, 4.17 meters draft, and 454 tons displacement!"
"Well, it's really quite sad." Young Master Zhao nodded approvingly, stroking the ironwood handrail of the gangway, and said to Wang Rulong: "It looks like the workmanship of this boat is much finer than those medium-sized Wuwei boats."
"Yes, it's like heaven and earth." When Wang Rulong mentioned this, he was furious and said, "Those ten black-tailed boats are obviously bullying us... They are from outside the area, and they deliberately cut corners and made shoddy products!"
Fortunately, he swallowed back the words "stupid and rich" and did not let his foul mouth ruin his future.
"Yes, I understand. The one made for Zeng Yiben is a human version, and the one sold to us is a monkey version." Young Master Zhao nodded in understanding and said, "No wonder Guangdong people love to eat Hu Jianren."
"Uh..." The two of them didn't understand again. Fortunately, Wang Rulong was used to the young master's new words, so he continued without asking for further explanation: "Zeng Yiben must have taken a fancy to this boat, and he spent a lot of money on it. Except for the elm used for the keel and the fir used for the mast, everything else is ironwood."
Ironwood grows very slowly, and after years of felling, large timber is now rare. To build a ship of this capacity, several forests would have to be cut down.
"This thing is too strong." Wang Rulong stroked the railing with a perverted look on his face, repeating for the umpteenth time: "When a shell hits it, it only leaves a shallow mark, not even a piece of wood can be splashed. Even though the Dafu boat made by Longjiang Factory is made of good materials, it can still be smashed to pieces!"
Obviously, Lao Wang has mastered the ultimate move of the ironwood boat and enjoyed it. Mr. Zhao suddenly understood why Wang Rulong didn't want him to follow the boat. It was probably because if he was on the boat, he wouldn't be able to play bumper boats on this big boat...
"Speaking of which, ironwood is not the hardest." Young Master Zhao took back his hand and said with a smile: "In our Northeast, there is a kind of iron birch, which is three times harder than oak and is known as the king of wood."
"Really? Then go back and get someone to look for it at Nurgandusi!" Wang Rulong was excited when he heard it. "If this is used to attack a ship, we don't even need to fire the cannon, we can just ram it!"
"Don't bother, there are some on Ainu Island." Young Master Zhao smiled and showed a look of desire. But he didn't want to use this thing to build a ship, that was too extravagant.
It would be a shame not to make beads out of such precious wood!
Don't laugh, it's true. Iron birch is twice as hard as ordinary steel. The Soviet Union used this stuff to make ball bearings, etc. to replace steel for use in machines and cars, and it didn't affect their Ula at all.
This is the mechanical material given to Master Zhao by God!
~~
The three chatted and came to the main deck, where a group of police officers were washing the deck under the leadership of the duty officer. Seeing the three people coming down, the duty officer immediately stood at attention and saluted, shouting: "Salute!"
The police officers holding rags, mops and buckets immediately stood up straight, with their legs together and their eyes straight ahead.
"At ease." Zhao Hao looked at the group of blue-shirted and blue-trousered Smurfs with great pleasure, as if he was appreciating his own work. The training uniforms of the police officers, including their impressive police robes, were all designed by him.
In June, Zhao Hao came to comfort the soldiers after the Battle of Gapa Island and found that they were still wearing the uniforms of the militia, but they were starched and dyed blue, which looked very awkward with modern military ranks.
So he decided to change the uniforms for the soldiers, and the group was also going to distribute autumn uniforms to the Coast Guard. On his way back to Beijing, Mr. Zhao asked Sister Ma, who was skilled in painting, to draw his design ideas.
As for the police uniforms that highlight the temperament of the coast guard and enhance the image and pride of the coast guard, Mr. Zhao initially planned to use modern naval uniforms. However, considering that the Ming Dynasty has liberated its nature and is free to dress, but when it comes to aesthetics, being one step ahead is leading the trend, being two steps ahead is avant-garde art, and being three steps ahead is a joke. So after much thought, he still took the most handsome uniformed unit in the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial Guards, as the basis, and referred to the costume design of the modified version in Donnie Yen's version of "The Imperial Guards", and came up with such a pleasing police uniform.
As soon as he returned to the capital, Zhao Hao found a few tailors, cut the patterns according to the design drawings, and sent them to Jiangnan Textile Corporation as soon as possible.
Although the clothes are so well dressed, they can reflect the strength of Jiangnan Group. After receiving the order from Mr. Zhao, Liu Zhengqi immediately assigned the task.
The main task was undertaken by the Jiangnan Cotton Textile Company led by Weng Fan, who now controlled half of the cotton spinning in Songjiang. Songjiang Prefecture was known as the clothing of the world, so making a few sets of clothes for thousands of police officers was naturally a piece of cake.
In addition, dozens of tailor shops, leather shops, shoe shops, and jewelry shops in Suzhou also took action after receiving the order. In two months, they completed a full set of clothing for 6,000 people, which was delivered to Jeonra Island by Chen Huaixiu's fleet.
It includes one set of autumn clothes, one set of winter clothes, a hat and helmet, a cowhide belt, a pair of long cowhide boots, and two pairs of ship cotton boots for each person.
Not to mention anything else, just the long boots are made of entire cowhide and tendon and are hand-sewn, with three layers of cowhide on the soles. Only the elite cavalry of the Ming Dynasty, the generals of the Han Dynasty, and the guards of the Eastern Depot could afford to wear them.
ps. My eyesight isn't very good today. I sorted out the outline carefully and only finished one and a half chapters. I can't update three times...